Sony SLR Range

Is there one?

Now the A580 is discontinued do Sony actually make a true DSLR or is their entire range now based on SLT?

Unfortunately they only made SLT cameras.

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Regards,
Juan
http://500px.com/endosphoto
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I think they might end up going back on that decision. I certainly won't be letting go of my A580 any time soon. Whatever people think, photography is about getting light onto a bit of film or sensor. Why you would want to divert any of that light anywhere else is beyond me!

Canon started it first:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pellix

Fortunately Sony are a forward looking innovative company that no longer rely on old fashioned out of date wobbly bits of glass jumping around inside their cameras.  

I agree. Sony is thinking more in the video than in the photography. They don't care about image quality anymore, it's better to have AF in video than the best IQ, even if no one that is serious about video is going to use it. The funniest thing is that they have the resources to make a limited niche market camera like the RX1, and not to make an A700 and A900 DSLR replacement.

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Regards,
Juan
http://500px.com/endosphoto
http://www.facebook.com/endosphotography

I agree with you. I had to make a decision between photo quality and video quality when choosing My SLR. It is a stills camera first, Design for that purpose should take preference over any video capability. So I don't get auto focus in video? I hardly ever use it any way. And I would use my RX100 for that now any way. So for me I'll stick with the marvelous A580.

I don't get why people are still perpetuating the myth that it's all because of video.  It's to increase speed possibilities with AF in general, enhance live view options including speed,  less vibration and audible noise and enhance video capabilities including AF. In general a more seemless integration of still photography, LV and video, maintaining speed and a viewfinder view.

None of which may be important to you of course.

Dear oh dear!

Just go out and try a new SLT camera!

They are BRILLIANT at still photography! I am on my second SLT now and LOVE it! Much better than my previous Canon SLR.

I hardly ever bother with video, although if I do it is also amazingly good.

SLT cameras have such BIG BRIGHT viewfinders, they are FANTASTIC for pre-chimping which is wonderful for the stills photographer and they don't vibrate when shooting. All the data you need is overlaid in the viewfinder - or not as you choose. Focusing is fast and accurate and the fast frame rate is brilliant for airshows or capturing fast objects like birds in flight.

I also found that the SLT makes some of the older legacy Sony/Minolta lenses come alive. Especially the 500 mirror lens. With no more mirror slap this lens comes into its own on SLT.

This was taken at the weekend with my A57 and Sony 500 mirror lens:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibOeSi0hFM0

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Regards,
Juan
http://500px.com/endosphoto
http://www.facebook.com/endosphotography

I loved my A55! A cracking stills camera! My A57 is even better!

PS: Mr Sony talks about the advantages for video AND stills!

My 70-400G would have difficulty matching this IQ. You're no doubt right... the SLT features (no mirror slap) and the electrionic first-curtain shutter, making the camera totally vibration-free, contributed to this stunning photo.

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*Jerry*
Sony V1, H5, A350 and A77... Still learning...
'The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.'
-- Dorothea Lange
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I'm not sure why I have to take one person's word for this (and he doesn't state it's the only reason as suggested in this thread) when pretty much all the marketing mentions other features before video. Even the original patents first described LV and speed benefits without a word about video.

That's quiet short through the corner (Dutch expression). There is more to this AF system than for video. The AF works continues during shooting still pictures. Instead of Canikons version, where AF needs to adjust after each picture taken.

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http://frenske.zenfolio.com

Because it works. Besides, going by that philosophy, it's much more likely they'll nuke the Alpha mount and continue with just the NEX series instead---all of the light-gathering abilities, none of the tolerance and manufacturing problems.

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/draek
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Hi,

while I continue loving my A850 with its big and clear OVF I have to admit that under many circumstances and for many uses the EVF of the A99 isn't far - and ahead of what an OVF can offer in terms of info readlily visible when photographing.

Let's face it, some type of auxilair system is always necessary. Be it a slamming mirror for composition with some part reflection of light towards the AF sensors. Be it a fixed traslucent mirror for reflecting a part of the light to the AF system. And when every metering is done one day off the main sensor, then I don't see any possibility for an OVF. What counts is what works. And both OVF and EVF work. And each system has its advantages and shortcomings. What I noticed clearly among the shortcomings of the OVF is the combination of the mirror vibration and increasing MP count (resolution). This effect I saw commented some yeas ago in an article by M. Reichmann about a 80MP MF back where the "normal" 2s selftimer period proved to be not enough to make vibrations damp to get optimal results on such a high resolution back. Similar comments arised when the 24MP FF arrived and things got only more complicate with the 36MP Nikon D800. Here the fact not to have a moving mirror anymore has clear potential for improvements.

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Cheers, Michael Fritzen

Alpha Models- A100, A200, A230, A300, A330, A350, A380, A450, A500, A550, A560, A580, A700, A850, and A900.

All discontinued, all future cameras aren't moving mirror DSLRS and have EVF.

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Writer/Editor:
http://www.photographic-central.blogspot.com
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You forgot the A290 and A390.

I had the opportunity to compare my 500mm Sony reflex with the new very expensive Sony 70-400mm at 400mm on my A77. There was no doubt that signifcantly more detail was captured by the 7--400mm, at a guess roughly around the extra amount of detail you'd expect from a 50% increase in MP. Of course it's another question whether that increase in quality in worth several times the size weight and price of lens

On the other hand it is true that the A77 <i>greatly</i> increases the usefulness of the 500mm reflex. The lack of mirror and shutter vibration means you can get crisp sharp shots way down into large fractions of a second shutter speeds (on a good tripod unbuffeted by wind). It's such a radical difference it's like having a new lens!

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Chris Malcolm

AMEN!

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John D. Conley nemo me impune lacessit
The Yanks live in my basement.